The Turkish Coast Guard Command on Saturday recovered the bodies of women and children washed up on a beach after yet another refugee boat sank while trying to reach Europe, leaving at least 37 dead.
In harrowing scenes reminiscent of the death of Aylan Kurdi, the Syrian toddler photographed lying dead on a Turkish beach in September last year, the body of a small child could be seen among those strewn over a beach near the town of Ayvacik in northwestern Canakkale Province, a photojournalist at the scene said.
A picture showed the dead child dressed in dark trousers and a blue top, face covered with a small hat. A pacifier lay close to the body. In another image, a Turkish gendarme was seen lowering the corpse of an older child into a body bag. Another young child was found dead in the water, according to the photojournalist.
An unknown number of other children also drowned after the boat ferrying them and their families — some from Syria, others from Afghanistan and Myanmar — to the nearby Greek island of Lesbos sank just off the Turkish coast.
The fatalities came as German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she expected most of the refugees being taken in by Germany from Syria and Iraq to return home once peace has returned to their countries.
Merkel has faced strong pressure over her welcoming stance toward asylum seekers.
“We expect that once peace has returned to Syria, once the Islamic State has been defeated in Iraq, that they will return to their countries of origin, armed with the knowledge they acquired with us,” Merkel was quoted as saying by the DPA news agency.
She cited refugees from former Yugoslavia as an example, saying that 70 percent of those who arrived in Germany in the 1990s returned home once it was safe to do so.
The refugee deaths off Turkey follow another incident last week in which 25 refugees, including 10 children, drowned off the Greek island of Samos.
A Turkish official contacted by reporters said the coast guard recovered 37 bodies from the scene of the latest tragedy, including children.
In an earlier statement, the coast guard said 75 people had been rescued. The photojournalist counted at least 19 bodies.
“We are sad. At least 20 friends are still missing,” said a weeping woman, who was among the survivors.
The capsized boat was visible about 50m from the shore, where divers from the coast guard were still searching for the missing.
Military police in green berets placed bodies in bags to be taken to a morgue. Life jackets and the refugees’ other belongings were seen dotted across the beach.
The drownings continue a grim trend that accelerated last year when nearly 4,000 people died trying to reach Europe by sea, according to the International Organization for Migration.
In the first 28 days of this year, a further 244 refugees died at sea, with at least a dozen more dying on land, the organization said on Friday.
The Turkish government struck a deal with the EU in November last year to halt the outflow of refugees in return for 3 billion euros (US$3.3 billion) in financial assistance, but the agreement has failed to check the refugee influx.
Merkel on Friday said that with 2,000 new asylum seekers entering the Balkans on their journey to northern Europe every day, the EU “urgently” needed to implement its side of the agreement.
However, Italy has questioned how much of the money should be sourced from the EU budget and how much control the bloc would have over how Ankara spends the funds.
Turkish of EU Affairs Volkan Bozkir on Saturday dismissed any problems with Italy about the EU money and said the funds would be released next month.
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